Radical

I started reading this book months ago. I picked it back up last week and finished it last night. It is not for the weak-hearted. If you are needing to be challenged in life, this is a great book.

Platt exposes the heart in a way to call into question our life choices. Are we seeing our abundance as a blessing and a chance to bless others? Are we giving away only what we can spare?

The American Dream is not necessarily bad, but Platt does call us to ask ourselves a few questions.

"This is how God works. He puts his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness" (48).

"We take Jesus' command in Matthew 28 to make disciples of all nations, and we say, 'That means other people.' But we look at Jesus' command in Matthew 11.28, 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,' and we say, 'Now, that means me.' We take Jesus' promise in Acts 1.8 that the Spirit will lead us to the ends of the earth, and we say, 'That means some people.' But we take Jesus' promise in John 10.10 that we will have abundant life, and we say, 'That means me.'" (73)

"To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus" (165).

http://www.radicalthebook.com/

Relationships Unfiltered

This is a quick, easy read, but it also packs a powerful punch.

Chapter four was helpful for me because it contrasted Justin and Jan. "Justin could go into a school and attract kids to an event, but Jan could open her person to adolescents and invite them to be cared for in the love of Christ she represented with her presence" (66).

Chapter five talked about suffering. "It may be that we work with kids who've had every opportunity and advantage in life, but this doesn't mean they have not known suggering, they have not questioned their existence, or they have not felt (or been) betrayed, abandoned, or lost. We all have suffered" (87).

"A major element of our vocation is to suffer" (91). Ouch. Not words you really want to hear, but it is so true. Something they probably need to share more at Christian colleges preparing young people for ministry.

"Our job isn't to discover the next hot thing or craft our personalities to be hip but to watch for God's activity in our lives and to articulate it. This is being a theologian; it is to be deeply with others as we seek" (140).

Andrew Root is a former Young Life leader, so he addresses the invention of "relational ministry" and what that has become. It is a really interesting book that has challenged me to think deeper. There is a difference between relationship and connection. We can connect with a lot of kids without being in relationship with them. Root is definitely challenging us to get into their lives (life's ups and downs).

Definitely recommend this book to those in ministry.

Quiet...

Pros:
This is the third book I have read in the past couple of years on introversion. I am excited that it is a worthy subject for books. I am always interested to know more about how God has wired me as an introvert.

I appreciated Susan Cain's use of well-known historical figures to make her points. Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Ghandi were all introverts and discussed in Cain's book.

Cain addressed some large issues, such as environments in the workplace and school. America has an extrovert ideal, which I have seen not only written into job descriptions but also in the ways kids are forced to work together on almost every assignment.

My favorite chapter was Chapter 10: The Communication Gap. I am convinced that if people understood introversion/extroversion better, they would have better relationships. "This was a painfully common dynamic... the introverts desperately craving downtime and understanding from their partners, the extrovery longing for company, and resentful that others seemed to benefit from their partners' 'best' selves" (228).

Cons:
Cain addressed the 2008 stockmarket crash, one of the only chapters I was not really interested in reading. Maybe it was that I did not have anything invested that it did not capture my attention as much as the rest of the book, but it made the middle section of the book drag on for me.

I do not like it when authors constantly say "coming up in chapter xx", which Cain did quite a bit. Maybe it is my own personal displeasure, but I just want people to come out and say what they mean when they mean to say it.

Overall:
If you don't want to read it all, at least read Chapter 10 and the Conclusion. But I do recommend it for everyone. It will be insightful for both introverts and extroverts.

I reviewed this book for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers Blogging for Books. I received this book for free in exchange for a review of the book.

To whet your appetite for the book/author: a TED talk by Susan Cain.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is not my favorite book by Austen, but I did read it earlier in March. I think I have watched the Kierra Knightley version of that book hundreds of times. I am not a P&P snob thinking that the BBC version is better (I don't know that I have ever seen it, but I am perfectly happy with the 2 hour version).

I recently had a conversation with a friend about marriage. Usually it is either for love or money. Charlotte definitely chose a secure home over love. Very practical woman. I do not know if I could ever do that. Both Jane and Lizzie win out on this issue -- getting both the money and love of their lives.

I saw this commercial recently. Did not really make the connection until now that it is kind of like this story.

Reading this book made me want to go to England again. I love the Motherland. :)

reading fail

I just can't do it.

The Hunger Games don't capture my attention like the rest of the nation.

I've attempted this book twice. Once I got 40 pages in and stopped. This time I got to 180. But I just can't do it. It's kind of like the torture of watching New Moon. What a waste of two hours of my life.

Reading through the book I noticed some errors (and other errors were caught while listening to the cd -- they actually spoke different words than those in the book like lie vs. lay... i vs. me).

I went to see the movie last weekend with my stepbrother and his friend. I just wanted to see what all the hype is about. I know the premise is good that kids are realizing this is wrong, the lengths people go to in "reality tv". But I think it's morbid watching teens kill each other. I wanted to throw up watching the movie and even reading the book.

So there you have it.
My honest review of a book I read halfway.

I know this does not count as a book, but I recently went to the library and came home with a few treasures. I have not studied or read anything about Catherine the Great since sixth grade. What a fascinating (and sometimes depressing) story of what goes on in royal families. She was a strong woman. I was reading a book about Catherine I, and how she and Peter the Great started transforming St. Petersburg into what it is today. They started building it in the 1700's, which is newer than I would have thought for a Russian city. It makes me happy that my library has great information on historical figures.

Keeping with the biographical theme, I picked up two books about Corrie ten Boom. This book is written by Corrie, but it is more about her father, Casper ten Boom. The ten Booms were a family who, during WWII, hid Jews in their house. Corrie's father, sister, brother, and nephew all died shortly after being arrested. But reading about this great man of God was an encouragement to my faith. It seems that Corrie's Father and Mother were made for each other and a great team. It is so insightful to read about where she came from in her family history as I read the biography of her now.

"Every single person is so important in God's eyes. In the eyes of God, it could be that what you are doing now is the

most important work in the whole world" (84). ~Casper ten Boom

The Jesus Mission

I had never heard of Steven K. Scott. I was hesitant to pick this book due to the narrowness of the title that Jesus's mission could be confined to a number.

Scott "spent two years doing what no other person had done before -- [he] organized all of Jesus' statements (more than nineteen hundred) into 225 topics and made them available in" The Greatest Words Ever Spoken.

Had I read The Greatest Words Ever Spoken first I might have appreciated this book more. I found it long and while I am sure other people might connect with his style of writing better, it was not for me.

I appreciate his studious efforts in making this available, and I can tell that his intention is to make sure that people truly KNOW Jesus. I liked that he gave action steps to his principles.

I reviewed this book for Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers Blogging for Books. I received this book for free in exchange for a review of the book.